


just leave me your stardust to remember you by

by stonefreeak



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Crack Treated Seriously, Disney Princess Obi-Wan Kenobi, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonefreeak/pseuds/stonefreeak
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has a rather peculiar Force ability: he attracts animal companions of all kinds. Some want to cheer him up, some want his help, some simply find his presence soothing. Whatever else happens, at least their presence is a constant in his life.Or: Disney Princess Obi-Wan Kenobi.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [[Translation]just leave me your stardust to remember you by迪士尼公主欧碧婉](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10820616) by [isaakfvkampfer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isaakfvkampfer/pseuds/isaakfvkampfer)
  * Translation into Русский available: [Оставь на память о себе немного звездной пыли](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132836) by [julyp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/julyp/pseuds/julyp)



> Title comes from the text to the song Boats and Birds by Gregory and the Hawk.

It takes a few months for Qui-Gon to  _ really _ notice his Padawan’s… peculiarity. It’s unlike anything Qui-Gon has ever seen in another Force sensitive before. For a lack of a better term, Obi-Wan projects his emotions into the space around him.

Not in the way Force sensitive people usually do, however, where their emotions infringe on others and affect their emotions; it’s somehow… different. Like a weak aura surrounding his body, faint, almost imperceptible. It’s not like non-sensitive people’s emotions—which a Jedi can sense through the Force—but somehow…

No, Qui-Gon can’t really explain it. He’s carefully investigated the matter by asking his friends and fellow Masters, but most of them sense nothing out of the ordinary at all.

“Most powerful, your sense of the Living Force is, Master Qui-Gon. Sense things others do not, may you.”

“Do  _ you _ sense anything, Master Yoda?”

“Sense it, I do. The something, indistinct and weak, it is.”

Which led Qui-Gon to a simple conclusion: Obi-Wan has the rather peculiar Force ability to project an aura of his emotions in the Living Force.

He first noticed it just after he and Obi-Wan had finished watching a documentary holovid on old Jedi Temples—which had actually been Obi-Wan’s choice in holovid, not Qui-Gon’s. Obi-Wan was cuddled up next to Qui-Gon, under his arm, and contentment and peace almost radiated off him. It seemed to fill up their entire apartment and Qui-Gon found himself relaxing even further. 

Once he’s noticed, he can't stop noticing. 

The way all manner of small creatures seem to gravitate toward them, watching as they pass. The way the sick and injured make their way to them, whining for help.

And… the way they will bring things—small bits of meat, fruits and nuts, flowers or pretty stones—to give to Obi-Wan whenever the boy is scared, worried, or sad.

Every time Obi-Wan turns big awe-filled eyes on Qui-Gon, as if they come because of  _ him _ rather than the boy himself.

Of course, the boy’s awe toward him in turns makes the  _ animals _ feel awe toward him. While Qui-Gon has had many creatures seek his help over the years, it has never been like  _ this. _

Unfortunately, every attempt to gently make Obi-Wan understand that they come for  _ him _ and not Qui-Gon, has failed.

“You're amazing, Master,” Obi-Wan says as he smiles at the small furred creature—a denigun, Qui-Gon thinks—that just presented him with a very pretty, and possibly valuable, red stone.

Qui-Gon raises an eyebrow.

“Why, exactly, am I amazing?” As gratifying it is to have his student look up to him, Qui-Gon would much rather have it be for his actual attributes rather than perceived ones.

“You're so strong in the Living Force that all manner of creatures find us to give you things or ask for your help!”

Qui-Gon wants to hide his face in his hands and laugh uproariously; the boy has no self-awareness. 

“I would like to point out, Padawan mine, that they're giving  _ you _ presents, not me.”

Obi-Wan blinks at him in surprise before he looks back at the denigun that hops closer and pushes the rock toward him.

Obi-Wan carefully reaches out and takes the rock. The denigun chatters and Qui-Gon can almost taste its joy on the back of his tongue just before  _ Obi-Wan’s  _ joy overshadows it. His smile is bright like a sun and Qui-Gon looks on, helpless against that look.

He watches his padawan stroke the denigun in thanks a few times before it takes its leave and Obi-Wan turns back to Qui-Gon. 

“Do you think they want to please me because they think that will please you, Master?”

Qui-Gon doesn't cry, he just huffs out a small laugh and pulls his padawan into a hug. The boy will understand sooner or later.

The red rock turns out to be made of rebendite and worth an absolute fortune at its size. Not that Obi-Wan knows, he simply fashioned it into a simple necklace with a leather cord and went about his life as if there was nothing odd about it at all. Qui-Gon knows he'll spend the rest of his life worried that his padawan will be kidnapped or robbed because of his necklace.

~~~~

In a small box in Obi-Wan’s Jedi rooms there lies a bracelet. It's made of many small things, mostly rocks, that animals had given him over his time as a Padawan. He'd fashioned the objects into a bracelet and given it to his master. 

Once, it had been wrapped around Qui-Gon’s wrist. Now, it lay in a small box, because Master Qui-Gon is gone _gone_ **_gone_**.

He was stoic during the funeral, the pyre. He tried to keep it together, release his grief into the Force and keep his grief hidden until he could speak with a mind healer back at the Temple.

But then…

A Nabooian sunset hawk—a resplendent bird in hues of red, orange and gold—landed on his shoulder. It cooed in his ear and rubbed its head against the side of his face and hair. 

He heard the gasps from the Naboo in the crowd, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything beyond the feeling of soft feathers against his skin.

He stroked the bird gently, over and over, until finally he felt tears slowly start sliding down his cheeks. The sunset hawk cooed again and gently pulled his hair with its beak.

It helped. At the time he had thought it was the Living Force’s way of saying goodbye to his Master, but… 

Over the following months, it keeps happening. Just as it always has before. Animals and creatures of all manner still find him, give him presents when he’s sad, curl up next to him, coo and stroke themselves against him.

Obi-Wan understands now, what Qui-Gon always tried to tell him. They come for  _ him _ —for reasons Obi-Wan cannot begin to comprehend—not his master.

In the safety of his rooms, when Anakin— _his_ _Padawan_ —is asleep, Obi-Wan cries again, his hands gently clutching the bracelet.

~~~~

Over the years Anakin has spent as Obi-Wan’s padawan, he’s has learned a thing or two about his Master. The weirdest and funniest thing he’s learned is that sometimes—Anakin doesn’t know why—animals and all manner of creatures will approach Obi-Wan and either try to cuddle with him, or give him something.

The red stone his master wears around his neck is, apparently, one such gift. Anakin would borrow that necklace when he was a kid, to watch the sun shine through it and the way the world seemed to be bathed in a red glow when the sun caught in the stone  _ just _ right.

On the whole, it was mostly a funny thing. He’d asked Master Windu once if  _ he _ would learn to attract animals like that when he became a Master, but Master Windu had only huffed out a laugh—which was actually kinda weird to see—and explained that whatever makes small animals and creatures flock to Obi-Wan like they do, it’s entirely unique to him.

Which had been really disappointing for 11 year-old Anakin to hear, so he decided to make fun of his master for it as much as he possibly could.

Having a Padawan who would join him in joking with his master of his “gift”, was even better, in Anakin’s opinion.

~~~~

The day Obi-Wan’s animal friends turned out to be  _ useful _ , Anakin wasn’t the only one with his jaw by the floor.

Who knew Deresian snow crows make excellent spies?

~~~~

Obi-Wan had assumed that Tatooine would be lonely. Just him, watching over Luke from afar, all alone with all of his mistakes. Instead…

Banthas who call for him, demand his presence in herd cuddles. Banthas who ask for his help during calf season, trekking across the desert for what feels like weeks until they reach the cave system where they hide away when it's time to bring their young into the world.

The absolute wonder of holding a newborn bantha, the feeling of having been trusted with such a thing…

The banthas are like his family. The only family he has since… Since.

Even so, his grief remains. The seasonal meetings with the banthas help, but even so, he hurts. He watches Luke grow, and makes sure he’s safe. He only interferes occasionally, like when that small band of womp rats attacks the Lars farm and Luke—brave, foolish boy—tries his best to help the adults fend them off.

Yes... the womp rats. Horrible creatures for the most part, he has had to kill quite a few—their deaths are not in vain as their meat is a decent source of protein—before suddenly… well, let’s just say he’s surprised the day a mother womp rat shows up with a pack of babies to his homestead. She’s clearly not looking for a fight, she merely screeches out something that sounds ridiculously like a greeting, before she and her family trots past him to settle peacefully in a large hole in his backyard.

Then again, you can’t really have a backyard when you live in the middle of a desert, can you?

The baby womp rats run in and out of his house at their own leisure and and even after they grow up, they stay around. Soon he has an entire womp rat colony in the backyard that technically isn’t a backyard. It’s around the same time he stops seeing any sign of Jabba’s men, actually.

The krayt dragon is an even bigger surprise. He’s grown used of smaller animals and larger herbivores being drawn to him over the long years of his life, but… The thought of Boga sends a sharp pain through his chest. He might only have been with her for a short period of time, but they had bonded. He grieved and still grieves having to leave her behind on Utapau. If he had been able to go back for her, he would have, but… Boga could never have survived the climate on Tatooine.

Forcing his thoughts to move on to other things, there have been a few larger toothed creatures that have taken to him before. Perhaps the krayt dragon  _ shouldn’t _ have been a surprise after all.

It’s a large female who takes him under her metaphorical wing. She “teaches” him to hunt and quickly ensures that he can perfectly mimic the call of a krayt dragon.

‘If you ever need to, little one, call for me,’ she seems to say.

No, Tatooine turned out to not be as lonely as he believed it would be.

Seasons change, though they don't look especially different on Tatooine, and the animals and creatures around him age just as he does. Slowly old friends die, but even though the first mother womp rat and her children are gone, the colony remains. He names the young and grieves with them when one does not return from a hunt.

The bantha herd too has changed its members due to age, but not as drastically. Bantha live far longer than womp rats.

One day, when it's been almost sixteen years since Obi-Wan came to Tatooine, since Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi became Ben Kenobi the crazy wizard of the wastes, he hears a krayt dragon call echo across the dunes, and he knows.

He calls back, I'm coming, please wait for me I'm coming. 

He makes it in time. The female krayt dragon who took him in, who has refused all names he's ever tried to give her, is dying. She lies on the ground, her breathing shallow and weak.

She lets out a hissing rumble as he strokes her snout and then, with a big sigh, she dies.

He lets out the wailing roar for grieving she taught him when one of her clutch died some years back, and returns back to his small house.

Quite a few of the womp rats from the colony behind his house proceed to act as trip wires for the next couple of weeks, as if unwilling to leave him alone for any length of time.

~~~~

Old Ben's house is very different from what Luke always imagined it would be like. Not the least because there are  _ womp rats _ running in and out through the doors, tracking sand everywhere.

It only gets weirder when Luke considers the herd of bantha living not far to the east of the house. Bantha and womp rats usually don’t live in harmony… and womp rats usually don’t  _ cuddle with humans _ .

Luke will admit that he stares a bit in horrified fascination as a small—probably really young—womp rat climbs into Old Ben’s lap and warbles at him until he starts stroking his fur.

It’s… actually pretty hard to listen to Old Ben talk, not because what he’s saying isn’t interesting—Luke could listen to Old Ben talk about the Jedi and his father for  _ ages _ —but because there are womp rats rubbing against his legs and Luke’s pretty sure one of them is going to take a bite sooner or later.

“Don’t worry, Luke. All the womp rats here have been raised here, they won’t attack you. Or any other human, for that matter. They stay around here, follow the bantha herd around and eat any and all predators that try to attack it.”

Luke boggles at him. Somehow,  _ somehow _ , Old Ben has ensured that a colony of womp rats and a herd of bantha have a mutually beneficial relationship.

“We should drink something, it’s hot out today,” Old Ben says, and gets ready to move. “Here, hold Seramus for me, he gets a bit sad if he doesn’t get his daily pets.”

Which is how Luke finds himself with a young womp rat in his lap, carefully stroking its fur and hoping it won’t attack him.

But there’s… something… about Old Ben that makes Luke feel safe, that makes Luke trust him. The people in Mos Espa might say he’s crazy—and maybe he is because  _ womp rats _ —but there really is something so… warm and soothing about him, even as he seems sad, like the entire galaxy weighs his shoulders down.

If possible, Luke would like to help him shoulder that burden. Just a bit.

~~~~

Vader stares at the empty clothing on the floor, all that remains of one Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The coward  _ gave up _ . Raised his saber in a Shi-Cho salute and  _ allowed _ himself to be cut down. How  _ dare _ he  _ let _ Vader cut him down? Just like that?

Vader has scoured the Galaxy for nearly two decades, searching for his former Master; searched for him to finally have his revenge for Mustafar… for Padmé… Of course Obi-Wan would rob him of  _ that _ as well.

The rebels escaped the Death Star, just as planned. The tracking device on the ship will lead the Empire straight to the rest of the Rebellion.

Vader returns his attention to the pile of clothing. A glint of metal catches his eye.

Of course, Obi-Wan's lightsaber. He bends down, but as he takes it, the robes shift and something red sparkles. He reaches out and takes that too.

His former Master's necklace, lovingly worn around his neck for as long as Vader can remember.

Along with the lightsaber it is the only trace of Obi-Wan Kenobi that remains in the galaxy.

…

…

…

In his dying moments, Anakin Skywalker looks upon his son with his own eyes for the first time, and presses a necklace with a valuable red stone in his hand.


End file.
